Odisha has added 74 more coastal villages to its list of communities recognised as “tsunami ready” under the UNESCO-Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) programme, taking the total number of such villages in the state to 100, officials said on Monday.
The recognition followed field verification of coastal villages in Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts. The exercise assessed local awareness, preparedness and response mechanisms for a possible tsunami.
74 Odisha villages get tsunami-ready recognition
The National Tsunami Ready Board (NTRB) carried out field verification on September 26 and 27, interacting with local communities and assessing their preparedness.
The meeting announcing the recognition was chaired by Balakrishnan Nair, director of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), and Rajesh Prabhakar Patil, managing director of the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA).
The board later met Odisha Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari and briefed him on its observations and findings.
Odisha identifies 381 tsunami-prone coastal villages
The Odisha government has identified 381 coastal villages and habitations as tsunami-prone. These communities are being brought under the Tsunami Ready programme in phases.
The programme focuses on strengthening awareness, preparedness and timely response at the community level so that people are better equipped to protect lives, livelihoods and property during a tsunami emergency.
What is UNESCO’s Tsunami Ready programme?
The UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme is a community-based initiative designed to strengthen tsunami preparedness through cooperation between government agencies, scientific institutions, emergency management authorities and local communities.
The programme is currently being implemented in 22 countries in the Indian Ocean Region, including India.
The recognition is based on preparedness measures and community-level capacity rather than simply the geographical location of a village.
Odisha’s tsunami preparedness journey began in 2019
Odisha's participation in the programme began in 2019, when Venkatraipur (Boxipalli) in Ganjam district and Noliasahi in Jagatsinghpur district were recognised as Tsunami Ready communities.
In 2024, another 24 villages received recognition under the programme.
With the latest addition of 74 villages, the total number of Tsunami Ready communities in Odisha has now reached 100.
India first in Indian Ocean Region to implement programme
Officials said India became the first country in the Indian Ocean Region to implement the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Programme, while Odisha became the first Indian state to prepare communities under the initiative.
The expansion comes as Odisha continues to strengthen community-level disaster preparedness along its vulnerable coastline. INCOIS serves as India's tsunami service provider and supports tsunami early-warning and information dissemination for the Indian Ocean region.
Inputs from agencies
